The D.C. Council’s various committees have taken a hacksaw to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s proposed $5.4 billion fiscal 2010 spending plan, restoring some proposed budget cuts, eliminating fee increases and saving a handful of jobs.
Among the highlights: Fenty’s “streetlight user fee” was eliminated; Emancipation Day was restored as a legal holiday; an increase to the E-911 fee was erased; the summer jobs program was trimmed by $10 million to help restore a charter school cut; and all school crossing guard positions were saved.
This was “one of the most challenging years we’ve had in a very, very long time,” Council Chairman Vincent Gray said Tuesday during a preview of the budget markup. Council panels will spend the next week voting on their amendments to the mayor’s spending plan. Final adoption by the full council is slated for May 12.
No provision in Fenty’s plan appeared to bother the citizenry more than the streetlight maintenance fee, a proposed monthly utility charge totaling $51 a year for residents and $201 a year for businesses.
Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham, chairman of the Public Works and Transportation Committee, said his panel has fully funded streetlight maintenance without the fee. Graham’s colleagues have committed to filling the $12 million gap.
Graham also announced that the $15.5 million derived from recent parking meter rate increases would be funneled to low-income housing programs in 2010, as the council previously ordered. Fenty sought to redirect the money to the Department of Transportation.
The public safety committee, meanwhile, restored local funding for the D.C. National Guard that Fenty slashed. The panel, chaired by Councilman Phil Mendelson, also cut $868,000 slated for security at the Office of Unified Communications.
OUC Director Janice Quintana, Mendelson’s committee states in its budget report, “continues to fall short of expectations to effectively manage OUC and prioritize its public safety role.”
Other budget notables:
• The Committee of the Whole slashed $3.1 million from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education. That office, led by Victor Reinoso, has added no value to education reform, Gray said.
• The same panel also supported a new $40 million Student Center at the University of the District of Columbia.
• Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser moved $2.65 million from the Public Services and Consumer Affairs Committee, which she chairs, to parks and recreation for use solely on projects in Ward 4, which she represents.
